Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) is an herbaceous plant cultivated around the world for its leaves, which can be rolled into cigars, shredded for cigarettes and pipes, processed for chewing, or ground into snuff. Tobacco leaves are the source of commercial nicotine, a component of many pesticides. The tobacco plant is fast-growing with a stem from 4–8 ft (1–3 m) in height.

Native to the Americas, tobacco was cultivated by Native Americans, and Christopher Columbus found them using it in much the same manner as today. American Indians believed it to possess medicinal properties, and it was important in the ceremonies of the plains tribes.

Tobacco was introduced into Europe in the mid-1500s on the basis of its purported medicinal qualities. Tobacco culture by European settlers in America began in 1612 at Jamestown, and it soon became the chief commodity exchanged by colonists for articles manufactured in Europe.

The leading tobacco-growing countries...